This episode of TwentyTwenty explores the role of American soft power in its international relations: how human rights have historically shaped decision making; the impact of race relations; and the increasing concerns around militarisation in the USA.

This week's interviewees:

Monica Toft: Professor of international politics and director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a research associate at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She is a supernumerary fellow at Brasenose College, University of Oxford, a Global Scholar of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Minorities at Risk Advisory Board and the Political Instability Task Force. Prior to this, she spent four years in the United States Army as a Russian linguist.

Inderjeet Parmar: Past president, chair and vice chair of the British International Studies Association; currently Visiting Professor at LSE (2019-2022) and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute, Oxford. He is co-editor of a book series, Routledge Studies in US Foreign Policy and served as Principal Investigator and co-ordinator of the AHRC Research Network on the Presidency of Barack Obama. He is currently working with colleagues to establish the Trump Project.

This episode was presented and edited by Elizabeth Dykstra-McCarthy. The lead researcher was Alex Brotman. The Executive Producer for TwentyTwenty is Elizabeth Dykstra, with the Associate Producer Max Klaver and Studio Assistant Rachel Carp.

Opening music: Tango de Manzana by Kevin MacLeod

Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4460-tango-de-manzana

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Cracking Down in Lockdown